In Memory of Christian Author, Diann Hunt

We lost a wonderful Christian author, Diann Hunt, back on November 29, 2013 after a battle with cancer.  Her book, For Better or For Worse, is currently offered for $2.99 as an e-book AND the book was made into a movie that will be aired on the Hallmark channel this Saturday, July 19th.  I can’t wait to see this movie.  I’m setting my DVR now!

Watch the movie trailer here:

 

 

Save The Date

I’ve been to two funeral this past week.  Two wonderful men with families they loved and families that loved them back.   They were both in their Golden Years and both passed away with cancer.  One didn’t know it until the day he actually died, the other one fought for many years.  Each one was a Christian and loved God and their families and friends.  But, we didn’t get a “Save The Date” notice in the mail several months ahead telling the day they would pass from this life into Jesus’s presence.

It’s a fairly new tradition that started several years ago with engaged couples, it was too early to send out invitations to their family and friends, but they wanted to make sure that they knew the date of their upcoming marriage so they would be there to share that important moment with them.  Usually months and months go into preparing for a wedding.  So many things to do!  Pick the date, arrange for the preacher, pick the venue, pick the music, GET THE DRESS!!, pick out tucks, pick your Maid of Honor and Bridesmaids, pick the Best Man and the Groomsmen, and pick out a wedding cake and a grooms cake, decide if you want just finger foods or a sit-down dinner….the list goes on and on!

But we don’t usually take the time to prepare for the greatest event of our lives, passing from this world to the next.  The most important thing you will ever do is except Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then embark on a life of learning and studying His Word and getting closer in your relationship with Him. Christians are called the Bride of Christ, so we should prepare ourselves like brides do for their own earthly wedding.  We meet Jesus, we fall totally in love with Him, we get to know Him, and then we start telling people about Him.  Like the parable in Matthew 22:1-2 (The Parable of the Wedding Banquet) “Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: 2 “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.”  Then the story goes on that the first ones invited did not pay any attention (in other words, they did not RSVP-my interpretation to go along with this post).  He kept sending out invitations and finally said in verses 8-10 ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. 9 So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ 10 So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”   Haven’t you felt that way sometimes?  You go to so much trouble planning an event and then hardly anyone RSVP’s and you say, I’m going to invite some other people, I’ve gone to this much trouble and I’m going to have a full house and someone to enjoy all that I’ve prepared!

God has done much preparation for us to enjoy eternity with Him, and He invites us, only most don’t come, He will take anyone, no matter your race, your station in life, your sins…He wants us to come to Him just as we are, we can’t change ourselves, we can’t save ourselves…oh, but Jesus can!  That’s why He died on the cross for us…He took the penalty for all our sins – past, present, and future.  I heard someone say that when God looks as us, His children, He sees Jesus in us, because Jesus’s blood covers our sins and makes us white as snow – Isaiah 1:18 “Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the LORD.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

No, we don’t get a “Save The Date” card in life.  We need to be prepared right now.  We are not promised tomorrow, Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.”  Life is fragile, life is precious, life is eternal…the only decision you will have is where you will spend eternity.  Heaven or Hell, that’s the only two choices.  I’m going to Heaven, and I hope you will too!

 

OR

Debbie

 

Jesus’s First Words in RED

Wednesday I “re-blogged” a post from the blog “laurabrookkeith.wordpress.com” (Grace Alone: Ministering to the Hearts of Women) about her Daily Dare: 40 Days to a Radical Life by studying Jesus’s words in RED.  I hope y’all looked her blog up and are keeping up with the words of Christ she finds and talks about.

But yesterday while driving down the road I wondered “What were Jesus’s first words in RED?”  So when I was in the waiting room, waiting for my car to be checked out, I pulled out my handy iPhone and started my search (before I forgot) and I really should have know this, but it was when Jesus was 12 (we assume) and him and his family traveled to the temple for Passover.  His family and lots of others people where traveling back home and his mother discovered Jesus was missing.  Any parent knows this feeling, and they started back searching for him.

When they found him back at the Temple he simply asked “Why did you seek me?” (NKJV); “Why were you searching for me?” (NIV); “Why were you looking for me?” (ESV).  Now let me say, I’m no Bible scholar and no Bible teacher and really not very smart, but I got to wondering (and I know I’m taking this all out of context, so don’t go get all freaked out on me) but I wondered, “Why do we seek Jesus?”.  Do we seek Him because we need comforting?  Do we seek Him because we want something from Him?  Maybe we are in trouble and we seek Him out asking for help.  We may be selfish in our seeking or we may be seeking Him out on the behalf of someone else that is dear to us and asking for healing. Some may be curious about Jesus and seek Him out to find out more about Him.  Some have hit rock bottom and they remember something they have heard or read about Jesus and start seeking Him then.  Some of us truly find Him. Acts 17:27 says: “so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;”.  And then the very famous verse:  Matthew 6:33, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” 

I also looked in the book of John and found the first recorded words of Jesus and it was after John the Baptist baptized Jesus and John and two of his disciples were following Jesus and Jesus turned and asked them,  “What do you seek?” (NKJV), “What are you seeking?” (ESV), “What do you want?” (NIV).  I found it amazing that Jesus’s first words as a young man to His parents were basically the same as it was when He finally began His ministry beginning with His baptism and asked the same questions to John and his disciples who were following Him.

I think it’s important for us to know why we are seeking Jesus.  And first and foremost we need to begin our search by seeking Him out for our salvation and start on our journey with Him as our Lord and Savior.  It’s not an easy road, we stumble and fall, some more than others, but He is there to pick us up and love us and forgive us.  It’s an amazing journey with our Lord Jesus Christ.  I’m a huge Hobbit & Lord of the Rings fan and there is a devotional, Walking with Bilbo by Sarah Arthur.  J.R.R. Tolkien referred to the travels as “adventures” and in one of Sarah’s devotionals she says: “First, we find an important distinction between adventure and misadventure.  Adventures are what happen when we’re on the right road. There will be hardships and difficulties that God allows (and designs!) to test and strengthen our character.  But if we wander off the appointed track, we set ourselves up for misadventures – bad events and poor choices that have the power to derail us from completing the journey altogether.  Clearly, adventures are a good thing; misadventures are not.”

So if we truly answer Jesus’s question “Why did you seek me?” and it is because we wanted forgiveness for our sins and we recognize Him as the One and Only Son of God and believe in Him and all the Bible says, then we will be saved and can start on the grand adventure with Jesus, our journey to study God’s Word and to get involved in a Bible believing and preaching church and start serving Jesus and growing along the way.

But don’t get too confident and think you are beyond sin, because the devil wants to ruin Christians and we have to be on our guard.  And when we fall or when other Christians fall, we need to love them back, help them up and bring them back to a good relationship with Jesus.

NOW, like I said, I’m no Bible scholar nor do I even begin to think I know much about the Bible, so I was a little scared to even write this, but it all started with my searching for Jesus’s first words and I just got carried away.  If my preacher reads this and I’ve got something terribly wrong, I do hope he will jump in with a comment and straighten me out.  I DO NOT want to say anything wrong and lead anyone astray.  I want you to seek Jesus and find Him!

I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on these “Words in RED” and why you sought out Jesus, or why you think people seek Jesus and if they are seeking Him for the right reasons.

 

 

 

 

Tracie Peterson and Kimberly Woodhouse Will Be At The Carpenter’s Shop, Feb. 14, 2014

Great news for Tracie Peterson fans!  She and Kimberly Woodhouse (a “new to me” author) will be doing a book signing at The Carpenter’s Shop at 1880 Epps Bridge Parkway, Suite 108.  It’s across the street from The Cracker Barrel and back behind Chic-fil-a.

Tracie and Kimberly have a new book out, All Hidden Things, and they will be autographing and talking to their fans.  I know several ladies from our church are planning on going to meet her.  If you live near Athens, GA, just drive on down and meet Tracie and Kim yourself.  I’m so excited!!

They will be at The Carpenter’s Shop from 11am to 1pm on Friday, February 14th, 2014.  I hope to see you there.

P.S. Brian Hill, the owner of The Carpenter’s Shop, said the book will be on sale that day!  Yeah!!

Bestselling Author Tracie Peterson Teams Up with Kimberley Woodhouse for a Depression-Era Drama

Gwyn Hillerman acts as a nurse at her father’s medical practice in 1935 rural Alaska. Her family life has been rough ever since her mother, hating Alaska, took Gwyn’s younger sister back to Chicago to live.

Dr. Jeremiah Vaughan finds his life suddenly turned upside down when his medical license is stripped away after he loses an affluent patient. In a snowball effect, he then loses his engagement to Gwyn’s sister, Sophia. When the government decides to send a group of families to Alaska in hopes of making a better life, Dr. Hillerman sends a letter urging Jeremiah to join his practice. Thinking his secret would be safe in the isolated Alaska Territory, Jeremiah agrees.

Gwyn and Jeremiah soon recognize a growing attraction to each other. But when another suitor enters the scene and Jeremiah’s secret is revealed, their hopes for a future are threatened.

(This description was taken from Tracie Peterson’s website…I hope that’s ok for me to use it…after all, I am trying to get people to come meet her and buy the book! 🙂 )

What Are You Thankful For?

I’ve seen this going around on FaceBook, where some people are using November to count down each day by telling what they are thankful for.  Since I’m not an “everyday on FB” person, I thought I would pose that question to you on this one post on our blog?

You can share your thoughts, serious or funny or both!  I would love to know more about the people who follow our blog and one way is to know what they are thankful for.

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Me, first and foremost, I’m thankful for Jesus Christ and His totally amazing grace and mercy He’s shown me!  And on the silly side, I’m thankful for my space heater that I keep plugged up at my side!  I’m cold natured and my husband is hot natured.  I would be happy to keep the heat set on 80 degrees!  But, that would totally suffocate my husband (and break the bank on heating bills), so I love my space heater.  It’s so nice to be warm and I realize it’s something so many people in the country and world do not have, so this is a blessing and I don’t dare take it for granted.  So, it may be silly to be thankful for my space heater, but I am.

So, how about you?  What are you thankful for?

Remember Our Veterans Today and All They Gave

Today is a special day to honor those brave men and women who have dedicated their lives in full-time or part-time service to our country, so we can have the freedom’s we so greatly treasure and sadly take for granted.  I’m sure we all know a friend or loved one who served in or is still serving.  Let’s take the time to thank them and pray for them and their safety and God’s peace to surround them.

I have 3 very special veterans who were in my life and now they have all gone on to be with the Lord.  I wish I had taken the time to sit down with them and hear all their stories!

Reginald Reynolds, my wonderful daddy. He served in Germany in the Korean War.

Henry Lester, my wonderful father-in-law, who served in Italy and North Africa in WWII.

Felix McElory, my husband’s wonderful uncle, who served in Saipan in WWII.

 

 

I Have a Prayer Request

I did not check with this dear lady if this would be ok, but I know people and churches around Georgia (and I’m sure around the country) are praying, and I want to ask you too, to pray.  She is one of our sweet followers, Gwen. Her husband, Ray, has been diagnosed with a brain tumor.  As I understand it, he will be having surgery tomorrow and I would like to ask for  your prayers for this dear couple.

I know that God does not need our prayers for His will to be done, yet, He loves to hear from us, to bring our burdens to Him.  He will be glorified through all the prayers and all the testimonies for and about this dear man.  He’s a wonderful preacher and one of God’s precious children.  Let’s all remember him and his wife and their family as they travel this unexpected journey. God is the Great Physician, He heals, He comforts, He brings peace!

We sang this song at church this morning, He Knows My Name, and it touched me.  He does know us, by name, the very number of hairs on our heads!  He hears us when we cry and He hears us when we call to Him!  We have a wonderful Savior who is there for us even before we call, before we shed our first tear, He’s there…and He will NEVER leave us.

Girls, Women…You Need To Watch This and Share With All Other Females You Know!

I just saw this video and it is SO true.  Little girls, tweens, teens, young ladies, even us older ones…we need to know this and we need to share it and we need to do it!  Be modest, respect ourselves and our bodies.  What you see on TV and movies is not the way we need to be seen ourselves.  We are beautiful, worthy, and it has nothing to do with showing parts of our bodies that should remain hidden.  Listen to this great group of young men and believe what they are saying.

We Were Nominated for the “Sunshine Award”!

Another award!  I truly am shocked, but thrilled to be nominated for this “happy” award.  I do pray that this blog will be a light in the darkness and lead everyone who stops by to seek Jesus!  He’s the true “SONshine”!!!

I want to thank healthyliving4him.wordpress.com for nominating our blog for this award.  I love her blog and just discovered it through the Liebester award and I’m glad I did.  So, friends, look at these blogs we have listed and you will find some great people with great blogs out there just waiting for you to find them!

Basically, The Sunshine Award recognizes bloggers whose writings “light up the dark corners of our minds”.

Here are the RULES:

(1) Thank the person who gave you the award in your blog post.

(2) Do the Q&A below.

(3) Pass on the award to 10 – 12 deserving and inspiring bloggers, inform them and link to their blogs.

My answers are as follow…

Favorite color? I’ve always thought it was blue, but I love purple too…but not just blue or purple, it has to be that perfect shade that makes me smile.

Favorite animal? This is a very hard question and I may even get some “hate mail” from this, but I don’t like animals.  It’s really crazy, but when I was a teenager I loved animals and wanted to live on a farm with every kind of animal there was.  I don’t know what happened to that teenager, but she’s not me anymore.  We’ve had our share of cats, dogs, fish, and even a pet squirrel (yep, my husband found him fallen from his nest and we assumed his mom was dead, because we had seen a dead squirrel a few days earlier-compliments of our cat!) And he put him in a cage and feed him puppy formula through a dropper and played with that little creature and they became the best of friends.  After a month and a half, he let him go in our yard and “Earl the Squirrel” went straight back to his previous nest.  He then started making his own nest every few months in different trees in our yard (we have a mainly wooded 2 acre lot) and he would usually come when called or come when you walked outside.  My hubby would sit down and play with him, scratch him, feed him sunflower seeds and pecans.  It was really amazing!  But he disappeared after about a year and a half.  We think something happened to him, because Earl had it too good to leave on his own. A dog killed our cat and then I told my husband that when I died he could have all the animals he wants.  But for now, he’ll just have to be satisfied with “dog-sitting” our two grandson’s little dog, Lucy!

Earl the Squirrel

Favorite number?  I have never thought about it, so I have no idea!

Favorite nonalcoholic drink? Sweet tea!  But I drink it seldom now, opting for water or plain un-sweet tea…I haven’t lost ONE POUND by doing this.  So don’t believe it when you read those articles that tell you if you cut out “such and such” you can lose so many pounds in a year!  Baloney!

Favorite alcoholic drink? I don’t drink.

Facebook or Twitter? I guess if I have to pick, I know a little more about FaceBook and use it more.  I’m still trying to figure out Twitter.  I can read the tweets on my account and have even re-tweeted (which I think is a huge accomplishment) but I have only actually posted a handful on my very own.  I still don’t understand it all.

My Passions? I do love Jesus, and I want Him to be my true passion, but I must confess that I’m still working on it.  I feel like Peter when Jesus asked him 3 times if he loved Him.  Oh Lord, keep asking and I pray that each time I will love you more and more!  My earthly passions are my family, my friends, my church, our Media Center and reading!!!  Of course, I have some TV shows that I really like too!  But here again, they don’t need to be my passion, it’s ok to like them, but my main passion needs to be Jesus!

Giving or Receiving Gifts? I love to give and make people happy.  And giving doesn’t always involve money, you can give of yourself in so many ways…just being with a friend who has had a bad day and making her laugh her head off and forget about her troubles…that’s a great gift I love to give!  That’s the kind of gift I like to receive too!

And since I have an annoying gnat flying around me and my computer, I decided to make up my own question and answer it and ask it of you.

What insect to your really hate?  Gnats!!!!

Now it’s my turn to nominate blogs who encourage me and make me smile!  I know some of them don’t like accepting awards, and if you don’t it won’t hurt my feelings  and some of you may have already won this award – I just want to nominate you to let you know that I love reading your blogs and you make me happy and smile!

Bloggers, if you accept let me know so I can visit your blog and read the answers to these questions and get to know you better!

scribblescriptsandsuch.blogspot.com

authorjodiwoody.com

lesleymcdaniel.wordpress.com/blog/

mustlovereading.wordpress.com

inspireddaybyday.wordpress.com

laurabrookekeith.wordpress.com

brittreadsfiction.wordpress.com

edifier1.wordpress.com

dmentink.wordpress.com

karinasussanto.wordpress.com

P.S.  I just want you to know that I burned my cornbread while doing this blog post!  So smile, because last night we ate at Cracker Barrel and my husband complained that the cornbread muffins were a little bit too done…just wait until he sees what I have for him tonight!!  🙂

Visit booklovers1.wordpress.com to View a Great Blog

booklovers1.wordpress.com is the blog that nominated us for our Liebester award and even though I mentioned them in my post “accepting the award” and linked to their site, I just wanted to make sure you all knew about them.

They do book reviews, devotionals, movie reviews, Christian music clips and much more!  I follow her blog and love reading the book reviews (of course) and I’ve re-blogged a few of her posts before.

So, be sure to visit her at booklovers1.wordpress.com and read about the blog.

Debbie

 

We’ve been nominated for the LIEBSTER Award! Yippee!

I hear an orchestra playing…I hear applause…someone is handing me a beautiful bouquet of flowers….wait, is that confetti falling from the ceiling? 🙂  No, it’s just me in my fantasy dream world!  

I really am excited to be nominated for my very first award!  I did some research on the LIEBSTER Award and found out some interesting facts.  Liebester is German for: sweetest, nicest, kindest, pleasant, you get the drift.  I can’t find where it originated but it’s for bloggers to nominate to other bloggers who have blogs that they really like and think are nice.  I’m so thrilled that Johanna from booklovers1.wordpress.com thought so highly of our blog that she nominated us.

Now for the hard part…and it looks like the rules change with every blogger, but this blogger had to answer 10 questions from the blogger who nominated her, and then she had to pick 10 other bloggers to offer this award to along with 10 new questions for them to answer.  So here are my answers to Johanna’s questions for me.

If you could pick a favorite author who would it be and why?  What specific book or series of theirs do you highly recommend? Oh this is a hard question!  I love so many Christian authors and their books, I would feel like a traitor to single out one.  But, with many apologizies to all my favorite authors, for the sake of this question I’ll have to say Lynn Austin.  She hasn’t written a bad book yet, and one of her latest books I did what I’ve never done before, when I finished the last word of the book, I flipped back to the first chapter and started reading it again.  The name of that book is, Wonderland Creek.  I think why I loved it so much was it was about an amateur librarian who takes donated books to a little town in the Appalachian mountains and is stuck with being the librarian and riding horseback through the mountains to deliver books.  I could so identify with her when she had the books all piled in the floor and the other “horseback” librarians started going through them and taking them and she was like…no, you can’t take them…they haven’t been cataloged yet…I haven’t put the pockets in the back…how will I know who has the books…I could so identify (I’m paraphrasing all this).

If you could pick any fictional world to live in, which would it be?  What is so appealing about it? If I could move Smitten, Vermont down south so I wouldn’t have to deal with the really cold, snowy winters, then that would be it.  I fell in love with that town while reading Smitten and Secretly Smitten (by Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, & Denise Hunter).  I wanted to open a Christian bookstore with comfy chairs/couches and have tea and scones/muffins and book clubs…you can see I’ve dreamed about this quite a bit!

Out of all the fictional characters you have been introduced to, who do you really want to meet?  What is it about them that appeals to you? I would love to meet Samantha “Ivy” Towers (from the Ivy Towers Mystery series by Nancy Mehl).  Ivy is a hoot!  She gets into all kinds of trouble (some hilarious), gets to run a totally wonderful old bookstore, and gets to be an amateur sleuth too!  Great series and great character, but here again, this was hard to pin down, I have so many favorites.

What is your favorite Bible verse and why (if it is not too personal)? My favorite Bible verse is usually the one that is speaking to me personally at the moment.  I have so many favorites, I’d just about have to quote the whole Bible. Here’s one:  “You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.” Psalm 86:5.

What has been your lifelong dream or aspiration? I’ve never really had one, is that sad or what?  I’m not all that smart, so that took care of “being a doctor, lawyer, or teacher”, so I just wanted to marry and have kids and be the best mother and wife ever!  You know, like June Cleaver “Beaver’s mom” or even Aunt Bee “Opie’s aunt” but I found out that life wasn’t exactly like TV!  I’m not the perfect wife and mom, but my husband, son, daughter and two grandson’s turned out great anyway! (Thanks to the Lord for that!) Three years ago I bought an iMac computer and a whole new world opened up for me.  I love doing Keynote presentations and iMovie slideshows and have done some for friends vacations, some for church and one for my husbands uncle who passed away (that was truly a wonderful experience to go through his life and present it in a slideshow and it’s something their family will always treasure) and a local FFA banquet for the past 3 years.  I made one for my mom for Christmas with pictures with my mom and dad (he passed away in 1985) as babies and their lives and ours all the way to present.  It was a wonderful experience.  I also made one from my husbands family after both his parents passed away and gave each one of them one for Christmas, so many good memories!  So, I guess if I could go back in time, I would start out with an iMac computer and learn all I could about making slideshows and presentations and do that for a living.  It’s so much fun!

If you were able to learn any language, which would it be? I guess Spanish (I took two years in high school (but refer back to question 5 and see that I’m not that smart).  There are so many Hispanics in the US now, it would be great to be able to talk to them.

You find a time traveling machine in your backyard.  What period of your life would you revisit?  I wouldn’t go back.  I would say to some of the times when I messed up so bad and keep from doing it,  but what if I just repeated history?  I think I would rather just stay here and keep learning all the lessons the Lord has for me now.  He has been very merciful to me.

You are generously given 1 million dollars.  How would you spend it? I would give to our church for needed repairs and to build a new and better Christian Life Center. Give money to my kids for their dream house, money for my grandson education, give money to my mom, sister, and aunt and some to a couple of other aunts who are not well physically to help them out.  I would take my family on a great vacation someplace nice (maybe Hawaii, if I can get enough drugs to knock me out while I’m on the plane).  I would remodel our house. I would also visit the young man we sponsor through Compassion International and give him and his family a new place to live and enough money so they wouldn’t have to worry anymore…wait, I think I’ve exceeded the million (especially if “Uncle Sam” took their share!)

If you were able to pick an actor/actress for one of your favorite fictional characters, who would it be?  In Joel Rosenberg’s latest series, The Twelfth Imam Series, I think Matt Damon would be a perfect “David Shirazi”.

Are there any recent movies you highly recommend? I just saw, The Odd Life of Timothy Green and it was so good.  Also, Unconditional, was a good Christian movie.I like action/adventure movies also, and want to see Iron Man 3, and The Wolverine.  If they could just leave out all the bad language they would be perfect!!! I enjoyed The Hobbit, but not as much as The Lord of the Rings trilogy.  (I’ll admit I’m a Twilight fan, so you can see by my movie choices that the Lord still has some work to do on me!)

However upon accepting the Liebster Award, there are a few rules that need to be followed:
– Link back the blogger that tagged you
– Nominate ten others and answer the questions of the one who tagged you
– Ask ten questions for the bloggers you nominate
– Let your nominees know of their award

Here are my nominees:

walkinword.wordpress.com

authorjodiwoody.com

mustlovereading.wordpress.com

31todayswoman.wordpress.com

karinasussanto.wordpress.com

heavenlyraindrops.wordpress.com

greenlightlady.wordpress.com

missybaroff.wordpress.com

godsmanforever.wordpress.com

ambirkelo.wordpress.com

And here are your questions to answer for me!

How many books do you read in a month?

If you could go back in time and live in a different era, what would it be?  Or do you like it now?

When you have a “free” day, what is your favorite thing to do?

If you could be any character in any book, who would it be and why?

If you won a contest to spend a weekend with your favorite author, who would it be (has to be the same sex!)?

Do you have a “bucket list” and if you do, tell me three things that are on it?

What book are you reading right now? And is it any good?

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

What book genre do you like best and why?

Where is one place you have never been that you want to visit?  Do you think you’ll ever make it there?

Again, I would like to say a special “Thank you” to booklovers1.wordpress.com for nominating our blog for this award.  It has been fun reading your answers and getting to know you better and I hope that those I nominate will have a much fun with this as I did.  I’m looking forward to getting to know each one of you better also.  If you don’t want to accept this award, because of the time it takes, that’s ok.  I still love you and your blog!!!  Just leave me a comment below saying you’ve accepted it or not.  For those who will accept it, I look forward to reading your blog post and getting to know you better by seeing your answers to my questions.

This is a really neat way to find other bloggers and to help promote them as well as getting promoted yourself.  After all, that is why we are blogging, we want others to read our writings and ramblings and meet people all over the world!

A Touching Story- Boy Wants to be Fireman

This is a precious story from my friend, Johanna at booklovers1.wordpress.com. This will touch your heart.

booklovers1

In Calgary, Alberta, a 26-year-old mother stared down at her 6 year old son, who was dying of terminal leukemia.

Although her heart was filled with sadness, she also had a strong feeling of determination. Like any parent, she wanted her son to grow up & fulfill all his dreams. Now that was no longer possible.. The leukemia would see to that. But she still wanted her son’s dream to come true.

She took her son’ s hand and asked,
‘Billy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be once you grew up?
Did you ever dream and wish what you would do with your life?’

Mommy, ‘I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.’

Mom smiled back and said, ‘Let’s see if we can make your wish come true.’

Later that day she went to her local fire
Department in Calgary, where she met

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Looking Forward To Seeing Jesus Face to Face

I don’t think any other words are necessary.  The Bible verse and picture say it all!

Does Anyone Remember These? I’m Not Ashamed To Say I Do!

This little walk down memory lane began with a search for a book by Victoria Holt for our featured author, Jennifer Erin Valent.  She read her books when she was younger and I felt for sure that I would have a copy.  I didn’t find Victoria Holt, but I did find these books!  It took me back, way back and it was an enjoyable trip.  I just wanted to share the books (most are books made from TV/Movies, of which I watched!)  Yes, go ahead and judge me if you want, but I loved those shows.  Still do, although I now realize The Monkeys was really, really silly!  But hey, I was a teenager in love with Davy Jones!

I know these have nothing to do with Christian books, but they are books.  And this is my “Just Me” column and I am sometimes a little bit crazy! 🙂

Let me know if anyone remembers these shows/books, so I won’t feel like the only one in the world who is old enough and in one case crazy enough to have loved them!

I loved Annette’s beach movies!

Do you remember watching her movies?  Does anyone remember reading this book?

The Monkeys, yes I’m embarrassed now…but then??? I loved that show!

Please tell me that someone else watched this crazy, silly show!  And if you did, which one of the Monkeys did you like best?  And did you buy a book too?

I even have their album…thought I had more, maybe I have some singles.

The show may be silly, but the songs are still great!

Who doesn’t like Doris Day and Brian Keith!

I think I’ve seen every movie with Doris Day and probably most of Brian Keith’s movies…but I think my favorite of his was, The Parent Trap, and the TV show, Family Affair!  Remember those?

I know Sally Fields hated this show, but it was like chocolate candy to me when I was in my teens!

I’ll even admit that I have the first season of The Flying Nun on DVD!  Yes, I’m crazy! 🙂

This is the Flying Nun album! See I was a fan!

I was such a fan, I thought about leaving my Baptist faith and joining the Catholic church to become a nun and go to Puerto Rico!  I wasn’t really serious, but it was a daydream!  My daughter actually got to go to Puerto Rico, oh how jealous I was.  Now you know for sure that I’m crazy!

This was not a TV show or movie, but I loved these silly letters.

Does anyone remember this book?  Please tell me I’m not the only one!  

Here’s a letter from camp:

Dear Folks,

One of the boys broke his leg.  They had a big fire in the recreation hall.  My counselor had his appendix out.  The boy in the bed next to me almost drowned.  The water pipe broke in the kitchen and they had a flood.  A tree fell down when the lightening hit it and they found a big rat in one of the bunks.  Nothing else is new.

Love,

Peter

I hope you have enjoyed this walk down memory lane with me.  Do you have some memory lane stories to share?

Debbie

What Are You Reading Today?

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I thought it would be fun to see what all of my followers and anyone else who visits our blog is currently reading?  We might get some great ideas from each other!

Right now I’m actively reading, Blowing on Dandelions by Miralee Ferrell.  I’ll be publishing a review in the next few days I hope…things keep getting in my way of reading lately!  Not good!

I’m also reading, Sparkly Green Earrings by Melanie Shankle.  I was up in the middle of the night on Monday with my back hurting, so I pulled this book up on my kindle!  If it had been during the day I would have been laughing out loud (didn’t want to wake my hubby) and I had to have lots of tissues to wipe my eyes, because I was silently laughing so much I was crying…can’t wait to get back to this book! 🙂

And I’ve been slowing reading a great devotional book, Walking with Bilbo by Sarah Arthur.  If you are a Hobbit and Lord of the Rings fan like me, you’ll love this book of devotions.  I think I’m taking my time, because I don’t want to finish it.  I’m sure this will be one I’ll refer to again and again.

So….what are you reading?  Let me know!

 

 

Cinnamon Crisps Recipe

We have this book in our Media Center, and now thanks to Cassie and her blog, we can try this delicious recipe! It looks easy enough for me to give it a try.

The Pirate Queen Giveaway at WaterBrook Multnomah

Just wanted to let y’all know about a great book giveaway at WaterBrook Multnomah.  This is for The Pirate Queen by Patricia Hickman.  Just click HERE and you’ll be directed to the site to enter.  Giveaway ends on July 26, 2013, so hurry on over and enter.

We Have Our 100th Follower – Now We Are Going For 200!

Cindy Paulson from Athens, GA, is our 100th follower and we are so excited!!  She picked, The Killing Frost by Hannah Alexander as her “thank you” gift.

It took us about 6 months to reach 100 followers, let’s see if we can make 200 sooner!  We just love our followers and feel so blessed that you take the time to browse our blog from time to time.  We hope you enjoy what you read and are getting some good e-books for free or cheap.

Read through our author interviews, June was Ann Gabhart (even thought the giveaway is over,  you’ll still be blessed to read her interview).  And this month the author is Colleen Coble (the giveaway is over but I’m sure you’ll enjoy reading the interview we had with her, it’s like meeting a new friend by reading these interviews with authors).  Starting August 1st, we will have an interview with Jennifer Erin Valent and we’ll giveaway an autographed copy of, Fireflies in December.  If you haven’t heard of her or read this series (3 books) you are missing out on a very special treat! I consider these books as “Christian fiction classics”.  I can’t wait to post the interview with her!  The giveaway will run from August 1 – 10, 2013 and the winner will be picked randomly on August 11th.

Thank you again for following our blog.  Happy Reading!

99 Followers – Will You Be The One To Make It 100 Followers?

UPDATE** Last night we got our 100th follower!  I’ve sent an email out to Cindy, from Georgia, and I’m waiting to hear back to see what book she would like mailed to her.  It took us about 7 months to get 100 followers, I hope we can get the next 100 sooner.  The closer we get to 200 followers, we’ll plan another “thank you” gift for #200!   We love all our followers!

 

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Hey, we are excited.  Right now we have 99 followers!  And we thought it would be neat to give a gift to our 100th follower.  So, will it be you?  If you’re the ONE, then you’ll have a choice between two different books as a “Thank You” gift.

1. The One Thing You Can’t Do In Heaven by Mark Cahill…..OR
2. A Killing Frost by Hannah Alexander (This book is is autographed by the author.)

So, what are you waiting for?  The signup box is on the right-side of the blog, right underneath the “Search” box.  Just enter your email address and I’ll be getting in touch with you to get your info so I can send you our “Thank You” gift.

Me Without You – Toby Mac

I love Toby Mac and this song and music video is amazing! I think you’ll love it too! What would we be without Jesus!

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1)Isaiah 40:28- Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.

2)Isaiah 60:19 – The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

3)Psalm 119:105 – Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

4)Psalm 146:13 – Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures though all generations.

5)1 Chronicles 16:36 – Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.

6)Romans 8:28 – And we know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.

7)Jeremiah 29:11 –

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